Wired - Douglas E. Richards [29]
“Oh,” he said, raising his eyebrows. “And what mission is that?”
She gazed into his eyes for several long seconds and then sighed. “Recruiting you over to my side,” she finally said earnestly.
11
Desh sat on the bed, stunned, for several long seconds. A faint siren could be heard off in the distance through the thin motel walls.
Finally, he shook his head. “Then you can save yourself some time,” he said, scowling. “Do whatever you need to do, because I’m not going to join you. Under any circumstances.”
“Given what you think you know, this is an admirable position to take,” she allowed grimly. “But if it’s all the same to you, I’ll give it a shot. I say again, the report you have on me is a fabrication.” She sighed deeply. “But give the puppet masters their due. They’ve rigged things to make it very difficult for me to plead my case.”
Desh raised his eyebrows questioningly.
“They’ve told you I’m a brilliant psychopath. A master manipulator. The kind of person who can cut off your limbs one day and pass a lie detector test with flying colors the next. Correct?”
Desh said nothing.
“Which makes everything I say suspect. The more reasonable, the more suspect, since you’ve been preconditioned to believe it’s all manipulation,” she said in frustration. “Have you ever seen a faith healer on TV?”
Desh nodded, wondering where she was heading.
“There was a guy who gathered video evidence on one of them, showing it was all a scam. The faith healer’s accomplices were researching people waiting in line, feeding him information through a hidden ear piece so he would appear to have divine knowledge; that sort of thing.” She paused. “When the devout followers of this faith healer were shown the footage, do you know what happened?”
“They stopped being his devout followers.”
“Reasonable guess. But no. They were more his followers than ever. They claimed that the evidence was rigged. That it was the work of Satan who was trying to discredit the work of a great man.” Kira shook her head. “If you truly believe you’re up against the King Of Lies, no amount of evidence can ever change your mind.” She sighed and a weary expression crossed her face. “I just hope that’s not the case with you.”
Desh furrowed his brow in frustration. “Why do you hope it’s not the case with me?” he demanded. “Why do you care what I think? And even if you could recruit me, what good will I do you? You have entire terrorist organizations to do your bidding.”
“Try to at least entertain the possibility that I’m not who you’ve been told I am,” she said in exasperation. “I am not affiliated with terrorists.”
“Is your net worth a lie as well?”
“No.”
“So even if you’re telling the truth, you could hire as many bodyguards and mercenaries as you wanted.”
“Yes. I could. But I’m worth too much to the people after me. I’d never be able to fully trust these types. I learned that the hard way,” she added gravely. She gestured to Desh. “You, on the other hand, are motivated by doing what’s right rather than by material rewards. You are a man of integrity and compassion, despite the violent profession you chose. And along with that, you have a very unique personality, philosophy, and array of talents.”
Desh raised his eyebrows. “That’s quite a character sketch you’ve put together based on a bit of information on a laptop,” he noted.
She smiled knowingly. “Read hundreds of personal e-mail messages and you’d be surprised at how quickly you can get a feel for someone. But your laptop wasn’t my first stop—it was my last. Everything is accessible by computer now if you know where to look.